Description

Guild Wars: Eye of the North is the first true expansion to the Guild Wars series of games in that it is not a self-contained chapter. Now as a prerequisite, the player need to own one of the previous Guild Wars games (Guild Wars: Prophecies, Guild Wars: Factions or Guild Wars: Nightfall) in order to play.

It offers high-level content in the form of quests and dungeons and as such is only accessible to level 20 characters. The game is set chronologically, 6 years after the events in Guild Wars: Prophecies and sees characters returning to the continent of Tyria. Creatures known as "Destroyers" are appearing from the depths of the world and are threatening to wipe out civilization.

The player needs to seek out the help of the Ebon Vanguard, the Norn and the Asura to help defeat this threat and does so by earning reputation with them through the completion of quests and mini-games.

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Trivia

Title

While EotN might sound like a more appropriate common abbreviation of Guild Wars: Eye of the North, there is actually a little story behind GWEN.

GWEN stands not just for Guild Wars: Eye of the North, but is also the name of a young girl first introduced with Guild Wars: Prophecies in 2005. She ran around following players through the tutorial while chatting all the time. One of her many dialogues is "Oooh, did you see Sebedoh's outfit? It's lovely, isn't it? I especially like her shoes. When I grow up, I want to be a mesmer so I can have shoes like those." When the Great Searing started (the transition between the Prophecies tutorial and the main game), it was presumed she was killed during the big fire which turned the green Ascalon into a desert.

Two and a half years (and 8 in-game years) later, while the players venturing from Boreal Station through Ice Cliff Chasms to the Eye of the North (right after the start of the game), an Ebon Vanguard squad stops them right in front of the Eye, led by an unnamed female Ebon Vanguard Mesmer. Just before the end of the cinematic, she says "My name is Gwen".

After entering the Hall of Monuments (inside the Eye of the North outpost), Gwen is unlocked as a mesmer hero. She also gives two special quests involving items of her past (from the Prophecies tutorial).

What happened in the time between the Searing and her becoming an Ebon Vanguard soldier is shown in the Bonus Mission Pack, where her story is one of the four stories told.

It's rumoured that Guild Wars: Eye of the North was intentionally chosen so that it could be abbreviated as GWEN, alluding to Gwen.